dCS Join HiFi Lounge’s Portfolio!

When looking for a select few new brands to add to our portfolio for our new demo rooms dCS sprung to mind straight away, I have been reading for years how dCS have been pushing the boundaries of what is possible from digital so I was really keen to have a listen, they have been working in the digital domain for over 25 years now constantly improving and refining the digital experience and needless to say once I had listened I was keen to add them to our portfolio.

dCS, or Data Conversion System to give them their full name, are based just up the road in Swavesey, Cambridgeshire and started some 25 years ago manufacturing highend DAC’s and ADC’s for the telecommunication industry and for the military where precision and reliability were key considerations, a few years later dCS moved into making DAC’s and ADC’s for the recording industry where they where massively popular and hugely respected then as a natural progression they moved into domestic home hifi where they have won countless awards and always receive glowing reviews.

For now we have started with the dCS Rossini Player and clock for demo but hope to add a full Vivaldi system at some point, but at nearly £80,000 that is going to have to wait a little bit, so for those who don’t know the dCS range, firstly what is the Rossini? Well really is could be described as the ultimate all in one source as basically it is a CD Player, a Streamer, a DAC, a Pre-Amp, an Upsampler and World Clock, I think that is everything, so in theory you just need to add a quality amplifier and speakers and you have one of the best digital solutions on offer today.

Just un-boxing the Rossini you realise that you are dealing with quality through and through here, it is an absolute work of art when you see it, the case work really is a think of beauty, I had a days training last week when Rav from dCS came in and spent a day going through what dCS are all about, it really was fascinating, their attention to detail must be second to none, dCS products like the Rossini or Vivaldi components take around 10 days to built each box then undergoes scrupulous testing to make sure everything is 100% perfect before leaving their factory.

dCS are best known for their patented Ring DAC technology, this is no ordinary DAC bought of the shelf but is a DAC that has been refined over 25 years by dCS engineers to give you a detailed but very natural and engrossing sound that really does just sound very natural.

Finally we have got the matching Rossini clock on demo, to be honest this was my first experience of a clock and I really didn’t know what to expect and what the point was to be honest but oh my god once the clock is connected to the Rossini the difference is not subtle, don’t get me wrong the Rossini sounds amazing without the clock but once this is added there is another level of focus and timing with better seperation and a much larger soundstage which makes me wonder why other manufacturer’s don’t go down the separate clock route.

It goes without saying that this is all app controlled with a very well thought out and intuitive app but it is also ROON compatible, this is my first taste of ROON and I have to say it is pretty awesome, basically it brings all your music together into one app, whether you stream form a NAS or use Tidal you see it all as one big meta data rich library, it really is a feast for the eyes.

So if Rossini is so good, then what does the Vivaldi system add for nearly 4 times the cost? Well it is most probably the best digital from end in the world, whereas the Rossini is an all in one the Vivaldi separates this over 4 boxes to apparently really lift the performance to another level, can’t wait to find out for myself to be honest.

So to wrap up, if you want to experience dCS then please feel free to get in touch to arrange a demo, as I said we have the Rossini and Clock here but if Vivaldi interests you we can borrow that from dCS at any time, that is until we get our own system that is :-)